McDonald’s agency review in UK delayed, while Amex moves its agency business to Interpublic Group’s UM. Intel moves its global media planning and buying out of OMD into Dentsu Aegis. What lies behind brutal murder of Saudi journalist Khashoggi. Indications are that there will be a big consumer turnout for Black Friday globally. Marketers in Asia Pacific region too focused on short term sales.

McDonald’s UK agency review delayed

In a surprise move, McDonald’s has stopped its estimated £100 million UK media-buying review, Campaign has reported.

The industry magazine, quoting several sources, said OMD (which currently holds the account) and Starcom (which is trying to win it), are in competition for the UK business and were set to pitch over the past weeks.

But McDonald’s has now delayed the process.At this point, the reason for the move remained unclear, it said.

AMEX takes business to Interpublic Group’s UM

In other media agency news, coming from across the pond from the US, American Express has appointed Interpublic Group’s UM as its global media agency of record.

This follows an agency review and marks the end of WPP agency Mindshare’s 20-year run with Amex, Campaign reported. Publicis Groupe’s Digitas lost its digital planning and buying duties, but retained the digital creative business, which was not part of the pitch.

UM Global CEO Daryl Lee said this was “yet another transformative moment for our agency as well as for the entire IPG and IPG Mediabrands networks as we collectively continue to lead the industry. Global wins such as this demonstrate UM’s capacity to consistently deliver Better Science, Better Art, Better Outcomes for all our clients”.

Amex spent about $400 million on the media in the US alone last year, according to Kantar Media.

Intel moves its global media planning and buying out of OMD into Dentsu Aegis

And in even more big agency news, Intel has shifted its $300 million global media account to Dentsu Aegis, on the back of a very competitive pitch process.

Dentsu Aegis created a bespoke offering for the pitch, ‘Team Intel’, which bring together talent from Carat, Merkle and Amnet.

To read more about the appointment, published by Campaign, click here.

Black Friday to make big splash this year

With Black Friday inching ever closer, retailers in the US and the UK are encouraged by a new report that says consumers plan to spend more this year than previously. Black Friday is scheduled for 23 November.A Periscope by McKinsey report says overall, more than 70% of adult consumers in the US, Canada, Germany and the UK are expected to shop or browse at this year’s event, according to four surveys it conducted.In Germany, participation has jumped from 9% in 2015 to 43% in 2017, while four in five (81%) Canadians have indicated they plan to shop or browse in 2018.Clothing is expected to take the top spot on consumer shopping lists across all the countries surveyed, with consumer electronics coming in second. WARC has more.

Saudi leaders wanted Khashoggi dead: NYT

The New York Times, in an explosive story, says Saudi leaders deployed a 15-man hit squad to take out journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul. It said among the assasins was a forensic expert who brought a bone saw to dismember Khashoggi’s body after killing him, the Times reported on Tuesday, citing an unidentified “senior official” as saying.

Accusations the Saudi leadership directly ordered the alleged assassination of Khashoggi will put further pressure on the United States and other allies to demand a transparent investigation, with possible serious repercussions to bilateral relations if it does not come to fruition, Al Jazeera reported.

Meanwhile Saudi officials have denied any involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance and alleged murder, saying he left the consulate on 2 October. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has demanded that Riyadh prove his departure from the building.